


Gabriel's Bright Idea

by pherryt



Series: SPN ABO Bingo [15]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Cowboys, Horses, John Winchester - Freeform, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, M/M, SPN A/B/O Bingo, a/b/o dynamics, angst with happy ending, hannah - Freeform, hurt!Dean, kiss, non traditional cas, non traditional relationship, omega!dean, ranch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 06:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12765282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pherryt/pseuds/pherryt
Summary: Dean loves Cowboys.  John thinks Omega's aren't real men. Sam thinks Dean needs a vacation away from Dad.The Shurley Ranch seemed like the perfect fit all around. Dean's taking the vacation Sam begged him for, he gets to enjoy the cowboy life and maybe prove a point to his father.But everything Dean does goes wrong, and worse, it happens in front of the handsome Castiel. He just can't win!





	Gabriel's Bright Idea

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks go to 3 different people for taking a look at this fic!
> 
> Jdragon, deadlykittenkay and blue-reveries! thanks so much! All three of you caught some stuff for me and were a very helpful sounding board trying to come up with this title :D
> 
> I'm almost done with my Bingo Card! I've got 2 squares after this. This fills my Destiel Square

“We’re not really doing this, are we?” Sam crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Dean.

Dean grinned dopily at his 16 year old brother and held out the brochure.  “It’s already been booked. You’ve been telling me I need a vacation to destress, and you were the one who wanted to come with, so suck it up, buttercup. This is what we’re doing.”

“But a dude ranch? Really?” Sam protested, but he still dropped his arms and took the brochure. He flipped through the short pamphlet, trepidation clear on his face.

“Why not?” Dean asked defensively, turning away slightly, his mouth pulling down a little.

“Dean, I know you feel like you need to prove something, but…cowboys? Is this about dad again?” Sam looked at Dean sympathetically and Dean felt his insides twist. His brother knew him too well, but what he didn’t know was this was their father’s idea.

Dean glared at his brother. “Hey! I happen to like cowboys. Don’t ruin this for me.”

“Fine, but I get to pick next year.”

“Sure, whatever. As long as it doesn’t involve a plane.” Dean waved his hand dismissively. “Now, start packing. We leave tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow! Dean, what the hell,” Sam yelped, scrambling up from his seat on Dean’s bed.

“Stow it Sam, we both know you’re at loose ends while school's out for summer. Don’t pretend to be so shocked.”

“Fine,” Sam said, heaving a much put-upon sigh.

 

* * *

 

Twenty two year old Castiel Novak couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stared at his nervous father, his mouth gaping open. It was just the two of them in the kitchen, Castiel having stopped by the house to refill his thermos with freshly brewed coffee.

“What were you  _ thinking, _ Dad? This kind of thing, we need licenses and waivers and who knows what else!”

“It was Gabriel’s idea,” Chuck said weakly, “and you know we could use the money. Gabriel set it all up, made the brochures, the website and everything. Here, look – I’ve got one right here.” Chuck turned and opened a drawer, a stack of cheap looking brochures filling it. He grabbed one and handed it to his son.

Castiel took it, rolling his eyes. Of  _ course  _ it was Gabriel. It was  _ always  _ Gabriel and his bright ideas. Castiel was dreading how this was going to backfire on them. “But a…” he glanced down at the innocent looking paper. “Dude…ranch? Dad, what do  _ we  _ know about running something like this?”

His father shrugged. “How hard can it be? City slickers come out, wanna learn how to be a cowboy. We drop ‘em in a saddle once or twice a day, and we have them follow us around and help with the chores. It’s not just free labor, Castiel, they’re actually  _ paying  _ for it!”

Castiel squinted at his father. “I really don’t think that’s how this works. And we don’t have time for this. we’re too busy to babysit a bunch of city folk that the closest they’ve ever been to a horse has been on TV!” Cas tossed the brochure to the table and pinched his nose. Why was his father like this? Why did he  _ listen  _ to  _ Gabriel _ of all people? “It’s not too late to pull everything – “

“Uh, well, actually…” his father chuckled nervously, and Cas could even  _ smell  _ how anxious Chuck had gotten.  _ Oh no… _

“What have you done?”

“We get our first city slickers today!”

“No,” Castiel said flatly.

The screen door slammed open and Gabriel bounded inside. “Oh yes! Think of this as a trial run, little coz! Don’t worry, we only booked two of ‘em. They’re gonna be our unwitting guinea pigs so we can see what we need to tweak before we open up full time!”

“That was surprisingly forward thinking of you,” Castiel admitted suspiciously. “How long are they here for?”

“Two weeks!” Gabriel grinned, Chuck twisted his hands together and gave his son and his nephew a shaky smile.

Castiel groaned. “Two weeks! And just who do you think will be babysitting them?”

“Why, you of course!” Gabriel clapped him on his shoulder, making Castiel stumble slightly.

“This is not going to end well,” Castiel growled. He picked up his thermos, screwed the cap on, and stormed out of the house, letting the screen door slam shut behind him.

It wasn’t as nearly as satisfying a slam as he could have wished, though. He stalked across the yard towards the barn and that’s when he heard it. The loud growling sound of an engine.  _ What the fuck?  _ Castiel froze and watched an old, black muscle car pull into the yard beside Castiel’s rusty truck. Sound from the barn had Cas turning away from the car and racing inside.

Most of their horses were pretty complacent - for horses – but one of them was really damn skittish and the newly arrived car was louder than any other vehicle on the property.

Castiel did  _ not  _ have the time or the patience for this.  _ Gabriel better watch his back _ , he fumed.  _ Somehow, I’ll find a way to get back at him. _

 

* * *

 

Dean stepped out of the car and scanned the ranch. It had a big sprawling farmhouse, a large barn and a fenced in area – a corral for the horses, he thought. There was a smaller barn and a smaller fenced in area a little further away, and next to that was a chicken coop. There was a garage where he could see all sorts of farm equipment and beyond all that were fields.

As big as it was, though, he barely saw anyone. There’d been that dude who’d glared at them when they’d pulled through the gate – a plain and simple wooden sign marking it as the Shurley Ranch – and then rushed off instead of staying to greet them.

The passenger side door slammed and he turned to look at Sam. Sam wasn’t looking impressed. He eyed Dean and raised an eyebrow at him. Dean shrugged and returned to looking around. He saw some cats lounging on the wrap around porch and he heard the tinkle of chimes, locating the source of the sound hanging on end of the porch, swaying in the light breeze.

But there was no one else in sight and other than the ambient noise of whatever critters might be around, there wasn’t much other noise. It was certainly not quite what Dean was expecting, not from how his father had built the place up. It was not the bustling turnout he’d have thought a popular vacation spot would have, if the brochure he’d read could be believed.

Trust John to have picked a dud.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Sam asked quietly.

Dean shrugged. “I mean, what’d the sign say, Sammy?”

“Don’t be an ass, Dean.”

“Well, hullo hullo!” A sharp clap drew their attention back to the porch, where a short, blonde haired man stood grinning at them. “You must be the Winchesters. Welcome to the Shurley Ranch. I’m Gabriel Milton, I work here. This here’s Uncle Chuck and he owns the place!”

Dean and Sam both blinked before they saw the other man, about the same size and a little older, half hiding behind Gabriel. He sent them a nervous smile and a half wave before trying to duck away, but Gabriel caught his arm and hauled him back.

They were soon taken on a tour. Chuck babbling as he led them through the house and allowing them to pick through a few of the rooms that weren’t occupied. The house was nothing fancy; well-worn but taken care of.

And absolutely normal. Dean couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.

When they brought their bags inside and claimed two rooms on the second floor and not too far from the bathroom, Chuck concluded their tour of the house and scurried away, leaving them in Gabriel’s hands. He walked them about the property, pointing out the buildings Dean had already noted, making inappropriate jokes and being perfectly loud.

As they neared the larger barn, the man Dean had seen earlier stalked out, hands clenched in fists. He ignored Sam and Dean and strode right up to Gabriel. Dean swallowed, staring at him wide eyed, desire curling in his gut. Crap. He didn’t even know if the man was an Alpha or what. Dean couldn’t even smell anything other than horses and hay right now, and he already wanted him.

John Winchester would have a friggin’ field day at how easily Dean was attracted to the other man. Dean could already hear the names John would be calling him if he were there.

“Ahhh! My dear cousin! How good of you to join us! This is Sam and Dean Winchester and they’ll be staying with us for two weeks. Don’t forget – you’re in charge of them!” Gabriel beamed.

“Gabriel, I don’t have time for this. Thanks to you, Meg has injured herself.”

Gabriel hesitated, his smile faltering before he shrugged. “Oh, that horse has always been a little high strung. Anything can set her off.”

The dark-haired man glared at Gabriel, still ignoring the brothers. Gabriel said nothing else and Castiel’s eyes tightened and he shoved between them, storming towards the house, presumably to call a vet.

Dean didn’t want to admit that the good-looking guy had not only ignored him, but had been rude as hell. Still, if one of the animals was injured, Dean supposed that would be a good reason why. And he should be grateful, right? Because if the guy was busy and pissed off, then Dean wouldn’t be able to throw himself at the man like an ‘Omega Whore’.

And that set the tone for the rest of the vacation.

Cassie turned out to be Castiel Novak, son of Chuck Novak, and he continued to be pissed every time Dean saw him. And Dean continued to be turned on as fuck in return.

Yet he’d come here for a completely different reason, he reminded himself.

He was supposed to be proving to his father that just because he was an Omega, he could still be a man. And what was manlier than being a cowboy?

Only no matter what he did, he screwed it up and Castiel was getting angrier and angrier every time. He’d managed to cover the man in manure when helping muck out the stalls. He’d somehow tripped Castiel when they’d gone out to fill the pig trough together, landing them both in the swill and stinking to high heaven. He’d been chased by the chickens when he tried to take their eggs – Sam was still laughing about that one. And then Sam had presented Castiel a perfectly nice basket filled with eggs and not a single scratch on his hands. 

Suck up.

Somehow, Dean had tried to milk a bull instead of a cow and nearly got his head kicked in for his efforts, forcing Castiel to come to his rescue. He was so friggin’ stupid! He should have known the difference between a male cow and a female cow, right?

Then there was the incident with the horse.

“Dude, how hard can it be?” Dean whispered at Sam. “I mean, it’s like riding a bicycle, right?”

“Dean, the last time either of us were on a horse, dad took us to the state fair when you were 9,” Sam hissed back. He stood patiently next to his horse, not yet mounting it as Castiel had instructed. Castiel, in the meantime, was still saddling his own horse. Despite already being here for almost a week, they hadn’t yet managed to get to the horseback riding they’d been promised and Dean was impatient to be a real cowboy.  _ This  _ was what  _ he’d  _ been waiting for.

He was even wearing the hat he’d brought with him.

“Pffft, you worry too much, Sam!” Dean shook his head, grabbed the saddle and tried to imitate all those westerns he’d grown up watching, but only managing to pull himself up into it awkwardly. He dropped down into the saddle heavily, jammed his feet into the stirrups and grabbed the reins. With a hard kick to the horse's sides, the horse lurched forward into a…fucking amble. It wasn’t even a walk. The horse just moseyed about like it had not a care in the world.

“Dude, I think he fell asleep.” Sam laughed.

Dean frowned and kicked the horse again, harder. He missed the look Castiel shot his way, his blue eyes widening. Castiel opened his mouth, “Dean, no!” but it was too late.

The grey speckled horse lurched again and this time lunged forward, yanking the loosely held reins out of Dean’s hands. Panicked, he leaned forward to grab at anything - the pommel, the mane, or both (both was good!) - and the horse took a rolling step that convinced Dean he was falling and then they were moving faster than before.

Faster than a walk, or a trot or, or – fuck, Dean had no idea what the horse was doing, but whatever it was it was too fucking fast! Dean yanked and hollered, bouncing painfully in the saddle, his feet slipping out of the stirrups. He was already listing to one side – fuck he was gonna fall, he was gonna fall, he was gonna –

He screwed his eyes shut and whimpered as the mantra ran through his head, drowning out everything else. He didn’t hear the second set of pounding hooves, or Castiel calling his name. Didn’t see Castiel reaching for the reins, grabbing them and forcing the horse to slow, trying to soothe both Dean and the horse at the same time.

“Dean? Dean!” the gravelly voice, which was - unusually - more worried than it was angry, finally broke through to Dean and he peaked open one eye, still breathing hard. His fingers hurt from the death grip he had on the pommel, the palm of his other hand hurt from the mane ripping out of it. Gentle fingers were on his, prying his hands open. He blinked and opened the other eye and finally focused on Castiel. “C’mon, let’s get you down.”

Embarrassed as hell, Dean slid out of the saddle and nearly collapsed when his jelly like legs hit the ground, his ankle twisting a little as he did. He looked down, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. A hand touched his elbows, helping him to regain his balance. Castiel, accomplished ranch hand, probably pitying his sorry, sore ass for his complete and utter screw up. “S-s-sorry,” Dean muttered, before stumbling away as fast as his legs would take him.

 

* * *

 

Castiel blinked after Dean, unable to follow because he held the reins of two horses. He watched Sam lead his horse over to Castiel’s cousin Hannah and then run after Dean. Quickly guiding the horses over to the corral, he let them inside, looping the reins out of the way, sending a questioning look to Hannah.

“Don’t worry, Cas, I’ll take care of them.” She nodded after the brothers and he thanked her gratefully.

To be truthful, he liked the Winchesters. Sam was earnest and thoughtful, eager to learn. Dean was brash, but kind. A little too enthusiastic at times, but he seemed to love being there which was rather refreshing. He just seemed a bit…accident prone, and Castiel had been unlucky enough to be get hit with the backlash.

If he could just get Dean to slow down and take a step back, he knew Dean wasn’t a lost cause. But he just couldn’t get the aggravatingly handsome man with the bow legs to stop and listen.

Cas hurried after them, rounding a corner of the barn and skidding to a silent halt. He’d found the brothers hadn’t gone too far after all, only making it to the backside of the barn, and he was about to give Dean a piece of his mind for not waiting as he should have and almost getting hurt –  _ again _ \-  when he took in their posture. And then Dean’s depressed scent hit him  _ hard _ .

The older Winchester was sitting on the ground, knees pulled up and his back to the wall while Sam crouched beside him in concern. His hat, that he’d been so proud of that morning at breakfast, lay in the dirt at his feet, crushed.

“Dean – “

“Don’t say it Sammy,” Dean’s voice was dead. It certainly held none of the exuberant emotion Castiel had come to expect of the Winchester since he’d arrived a week ago. “I just keep screwing up and I’m damn lucky no one’s gotten hurt, human or otherwise. I’m sure Novak’ll give me an earful when he hunts my ass down and rips me a new one…” he sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

“You know,” Sam chewed his lip thoughtfully, “I think you’re just trying too hard. Maybe dial it back a bit. You can’t become a cowboy overnight, y’know.”

Dean huffed out a breath, and his words were muffled behind his hands. “Don’t matter. It’s pointless. I’m just as much of a screw up here as I am at home.”

Sam sighed. “Gotta admit, I thought I was joking when I said we were just coming here so you could prove something to dad, but I’m starting to realize I hit a little closer to home than I thought. You know dad’s a jerk, right? The way he treats you isn’t right and you shouldn’t listen to a damn word he says.”

“He’s our  _ dad _ , Sam.”

“Doesn’t make him right. You’re not less of a man just because you presented differently than the ‘great John Winchester’ expected you to.” The sarcasm thickly laden in the teen’s voice surprised Castiel, it wasn’t a tone of voice he was used to hearing from Sam in the short time he’d had to get to know him.

“Just leave me alone, Sam.”

“And let you wallow alone back here?” Sam asked incredulously.

“Of course not, Sam. Whattya take me for? A drama queen?” Dean snapped. “Nah, I’m just gonna go hide in my room and wallow alone there for the rest of this vacation. I’m sick of being the fucking damsel in distress. Oh wait, I forgot, that’s all an omega’s good for.” The self-loathing in his statement was clear and Castiel’s heart wrenched at the words.

It was quickly apparent he wasn’t alone in that sentiment as Sam gaped, then reached for his brother. “Dean – !”

“Don’t, I’m done,” Dean said before he stood and limped away, not glancing back to notice Castiel where he still stood leaning against the wall. He shouldn’t have eavesdropped. Hadn’t meant to, had meant to speak up when he found the brothers but now he just stared after the freckled man, biting his lip.

“So uh, you heard all that, huh?”

Sam’s voice startled Castiel out of his thoughts. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“No, it’s okay and uh, thanks man, for not chewing out my brother.” Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. “He really does mean well. And when he’s not stressing about shit or pushing himself to be what he thinks will get our dad’s approval, he can do some amazing stuff.”

“What your brother was saying – “

“Dad’s a jerk,” Sam growled. “A bigoted ass. And he’s got Dean all turned around and it’s not fair. Dean’s the best and Dad just treats him like shit. I begged him to go on a vacation to get away from dad, just let himself be  _ himself _ for once. I had no idea he’d drag dad with him. I don’t know what to do, Castiel.” Sam slumped against the barn, looking even younger than his years as he kicked at the dirt.

“Look, why don’t I go talk with him?” Castiel offered.

Sam scoffed. “Don’t know what good that’ll do, but sure, go ahead and try.”

“I think I will. If you wouldn’t mind helping Hannah with the horses? We’re a little shorthanded around here.” Cas pointed out. Sam nodded and pushed away from the wall, leaving Cas alone behind the barn as he thought of the best way to approach Dean Winchester.

 

* * *

 

Dean slunk into his room with his proverbial tail between his legs and flopped face down on his bed, not even taking a moment to remove his boots.

He’d made a goddamn ass out of himself.

And in front of Cas, no less.

He was a failure at ‘being a man’ like his father wanted and he was a failure at being an Omega and trying to impress his crush.

Dean Winchester was twice over a failure.

And he was stuck here for another week. Craptastic.

A knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts. Thinking it was Sam and knowing his brother wouldn’t just leave him alone if he wanted something, or if he was worried, Dean called out for him to enter without even looking up.

“God, Sam, I’m such a fuckup. Why can’t I ever do anything right? Can’t make dad happy, ever since I presented wrong, and I can’t even impress the guy I maybe kinda like…” Dean voiced the very thoughts he’d been thinking and then froze as a very un-Sam-like smell hit him.

“Hey, Dean, you um, forgot your hat,” Cas said softly.

Very slowly, Dean rolled to his back and sat up on the edge of his bed. Cas was closer than he’d expected and Dean reached out for the hat and took it. He didn’t look at Cas. “Look, man, I’m sorry…”

“May I sit down?”

“W-what?” Dean blinked, derailed. Cas pointed next to Dean to the bed. Dazedly, Dean nodded, and watched as Cas sat beside him, careful not to touch Dean.

Dean fidgeted with the edges of his hat, still not looking at Cas. His shoulders hunched over a bit, waiting for Cas to unleash his anger on him. Probably about how stupid Dean had been to try and ride without waiting for Cas, or when he didn’t actually know what he was doing. Yell at how Dean could have hurt himself or the horse. In fact, Cas was probably angrier about the horse, come to think of it. Sam and Dean had had to sign some kind of waiver before they’d been allowed to do  _ anything _ .

“Did you know, we’re not really a dude ranch?” Cas said. Dean blinked and looked at him, startled. That was certainly not what he was expecting.

“Uh…?”

Castiel snorted, his hands clasped together, looking straight ahead at the wall. “This whole thing was Gabriel’s idea and um, I might have taken it out on you and your brother a little. See, I’d only found out maybe ten minutes before you showed up that I was going to have tagalongs to every chore I did. And if that weren’t enough, I’d have to find time in my already busy day to entertain them. None of us were trained for this. I didn’t get time to mentally prepare for it. I was told it was happening and then you were there.”

Dean gaped at Castiel. “Shit, that sucks, man. And then here I came along and made shit even harder for you.”

Sighing, Castiel shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean, yeah, you and Sam being around was an adjustment and…at first some things did fall behind but, it wasn’t all bad. You’re both of you pretty smart, eager to learn and hardworking. I just don’t know anything about being a teacher and I was a little resentful of having you dropped in my lap with no warning. But I wasn’t really angry with you, I guess is what I’m trying to say.”

“Yeah but I mean, I screwed it all up,” Dean said, biting his lip. “You had to be at least a little angry with me when I covered you in horseshit.”

“I…can’t say I was pleased about it, no, but it wasn’t the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.” Castiel chuckled and Dean’s eyes shot back over to him, hands freezing on the hat. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Cas laugh before. And, well, it wasn’t a  _ full on  _ laugh, but it was still a laugh.

It sounded amazing.

Dean swallowed, staring at Cas in disbelief. Why was he smiling? Why wasn’t he angry at him? Suddenly, Cas stood and Dean winced a little before he managed to reign in the automatic reaction, honed by many years of avoiding John Winchester's anger.

“Take off your boots,” Cas ordered, coming to stand in front of Dean.

“Why?” Dean asked with narrowed eyes.

Castiel rolled his eyes and sighed. “Because I want to check your ankles. You were limping, Dean, and I’ve got experience with this sort of injury.”

“I’m still amazed I didn’t fall off,” Dean grumbled, leaning down to yank the boots off. He winced. In his shame he hadn’t realized quite how much his left foot was bothering him.

“I’m just glad I got there in time,” Cas agreed, kneeling in front of Dean. Dean flushed, looking down at the dark head of hair in front of him. Now was definitely not the time.

“Guess it sucks, being stuck babysitting a couple of no nothings,” Dean tried to joke, but his throat caught and he nearly choked on the words, thinking of all the things John always screamed at him.

“I wouldn’t say that, Dean.” Cas’s fingers had pulled off Dean’s socks and were carefully prodding along the bones and muscles of his ankles. His fingers felt too warm on Dean’s skin.

Dean’s eyes burned. “You don’t have to lie to me, Cas. I know I got in the way more often than not.”

“Dean, you just didn’t know. I’m a terrible teacher, but I’m sure you could learn if you gave yourself the chance.”

“Sure,” Dean scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say.”

“What does that mean?” Cas’s fingers dropped from Dean’s ankles and he fell back to sit on his heels.

“Well, I just…I mean…I’m an Omega and you’re an Alpha. I bet this stuff just comes easy to you.” Dean waved his hand at Cas and watched the other man squint his eyes at Dean.

There was a long silence, Cas looking away finally, only to pull an ace bandage out of a small box by his knees. Where had that come from? Had Cas brought it in with him and Dean had just been too mired in his misery and self-pity that he hadn’t seen the first aid kit at all?

Cas was almost done wrapping up Dean’s left ankle when he spoke again. “Would it surprise you to know that both Gabriel and Hannah are Alphas?”

“What? No way – they don’t act anything alike and Gabriel is so…so…” Dean floundered. Everything he could say sounded so much like John Winchester’s bigoted opinions and he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“So stereotypically an Omega?” Cas asked, tying off the ace bandage and gently placing Dean’s foot back on the floor. Dean blushed.  “I promise you, Gabe wouldn’t be offended. He likes it when people underestimate him, actually. Gives him an edge, he says.”

“O-kay?” Dean said weakly.

“What if I told you I wasn’t an Alpha?” Cas asked, standing up slowly and coming back to sit on the bed beside Dean.

For the second time in less than 5 minutes, Dean was stunned. “That’s…not possible…”

“I assure you it is. Come here, Dean,” Castiel held his arm out in invitation. When Dean leaned over some, Cas pulled him into his neck and Dean froze. “Go ahead and breathe.”

Inhaling deeply, Dean caught the scent of horses, of blockers and…and Cas’s true scent underlying it all. There was a rich earthy smell, a tang of ozone and something else Dean couldn’t define but was wholly Omega.

Like him.

Cas was an Omega.

And a cowboy. A competent one at that.

If John Winchester were to see Castiel and Gabriel side by side and judge them by his definitions of a real man…he’d never would have picked them out right. Dean nearly laughed hysterically into Cas’s neck as he took that in.

“For what it’s worth, I think your brother is right. Your father is an assbutt. No one should be defined by their gender or their presentation,” Cas said quietly but firmly. “Their personalities, their skills, their worth – none of that should ever be tied to such things because they have no bearing. Why should being an Omega mean I’m less competent than someone else? Or Hannah being female?”

“I don’t know, man,” Dean said quietly, inhaling Cas’s scent again. It was soothing and arousing at the same time. “Fuck, my dad would probably have a heart attack if he met you,” Dean said with a laugh.

“Well, not that I want to be responsible for someone’s ill health, but that actually sounds…fitting.” Cas grimaced. “I don’t think I’d like your father. And he certainly wouldn’t like our family. None of us ‘act like our presentations’.” Cas’s shoulders shrugged as he made air quotes and Dean sat up and laughed.

“Dude, air quotes?”

“Yes?” Cas looked at him quizzically. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, just, they’re um…you’re kind of adorable, you know that?” Dean said, blushing immediately afterwards. Why the hell had he said that?

“Oh!” Cas smiled slowly. “Um…thank you. I’m flattered.” Dean watched a blush form on Cas’s face and shook his head.

“No man, I mean…What I really mean, um, shit…I suck at this…” Dean rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously.

“Dean, could I kiss you?” Cas looked at him hopefully and Dean’s hand faltered, his eyes widening.

“Fuck yeah,” Dean breathed out, hardly able to believe his luck.

Things got better from there. Cas was more patient with Dean and Dean made sure to take things a little slower, and by the time they were supposed to leave, Cas was as reluctant to see Dean go as he’d initially been to having Dean and Sam thrust upon him.

It surprised no one except John when Dean eventually moved to the Ranch to be with Cas and to help with the insane scheme that had, apparently, been deemed enough of a success to stick around.

And while he did not have a heart attack, John Winchester – upon visiting the Shurley Ranch – had a bit of a change of heart. He watched his son and future son in law work the ranch together – riding, roping, doing work that was hard and sweaty and sometimes dangerous- and considered. Maybe things weren’t as black and white as he thought life was.

It was a long road for John, realizing how he’d screwed up as a parent, but in the end, he was proud to stand up for Dean at his wedding to Castiel. And if someone tried to point out that they were both Omegas, John would shut them down.

“Who cares? They’re in love and that’s all that matters.”

* * *

 

**Bonus scene:**

“So, why’s it called the Shurley ranch if you all are Novak’s?” Dean asked, staring at a brochure someone had left on the table.

“Now that is the million-dollar question, Dean–o! You’ll have to ask Uncle Chuck that one.” Gabriel smirked.

Chuck groaned. “Oh no guys, not this again. There’s no special reason, no grand mystery, okay?”

“Why do I  _ not  _ believe you?” Gabriel cried.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Gabe. You know it was already called Shurley’s before dad inherited it.” Castiel ignored his cousin, standing at the coffee machine and eyeing it blearily.

Dean caught an odd look over Chuck's face and his scent got – the best word Dean could think of was furtive. What the hell? It was just a name. Why would anyone get all secretive about something like that? Maybe Gabriel was right and there  _ was  _ something up. Dean pondered and soon was lost in thought coming with all sorts of wild scenarios for being so secretive.

“Hey uh…where’d he go?” Sam asked suddenly.

They all blinked at the now empty seat at the breakfast table. Chuck Novak had snuck out of the kitchen without anyone noticing the slam of that creaky screen door. How the man had done so was mind boggling.

And certainly, gave Dean more food for thought. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i was real hesitant to put the omega!cas tag in the tags because of the little twist at the end but i put it in anyway. i hope the little twist wasn't ruined for anyone.


End file.
